


You Are Cordially Invited

by dovetales



Category: The Avengers (2012), West Wing
Genre: Crossover, Multi, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-11
Updated: 2011-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-27 05:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/291966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovetales/pseuds/dovetales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint finds out that Phil Coulson, aka Michael Casper, is invited to Zoey Bartlet and Charlie Young's wedding. Tony decides that attending should be a team bonding event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are Cordially Invited

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ivyadrena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyadrena/gifts).



> Over on tumblr ivyadrena prompted the following and it kind of ate my brain.
>
>> Phil Coulson gets an invitation to the wedding of Zoey Bartlett and Charlie Young - that somehow finds him at SHIELD even though it’s addressed to “Michael Casper.” He takes Clint as his Plus One.  
> Bonus points if Tony convinces one or more of the other Avengers to party-crash to find out wtf; Darcy could tag along to make them behave or something?

Clint’s sitting in one of the chairs in Phil’s office waiting for Phil to finish the paperwork on the Avengers’ fight with the Doombots in Central Park. Clint’s not bored per se. After all, he knows how to to be patient and wait for the right shot, and he’s learning how to be patient when he’s not on the job. Phil’s an excellent teacher when it comes to patience.

So Clint’s not bored, but he is restless. The fight wasn’t difficult, but it was longer than usual because the park offers more cover than Manhattan streets do. So since Phil is busy looking into why Dr. Doom sent the bots to Central Park instead of Times Square or midtown or even the financial district, Clint decides he’ll neaten up Phil’s desk.

(Never mind that Phil’s desk is better organized than any other desk he’s ever seen.)

He knows that Phil would normally be asking him not to move anything or even touch anything. But he also knows that Phil is aware that Clint is getting edgy and that he’s hungry and that Cap and Stark were in rare form today, which only makes Clint edgier. Clint’s something of an odd mix of soldier and not-a-soldier, so he understands that Stark chafes under Cap’s leadership - it’s not as if Clint likes taking orders, he just knows that someone has to be in charge, and he doesn’t much want it to be himself. But Stark has a mouth on him and a way of talking back that gets under Cap’s skin. So, yeah, a longer fight in a place where Iron Man was less useful than he normally is ends with Stark being more of an ass than usual during the battle and even worse in the debrief after. Which leads to Cap being kind of a dick to everyone instead of just Stark. Steve Rogers is a natural leader, but leading a team with someone like Stark on it takes more experience than what Cap’d got on the front lines during WWII.

He’s straightening a pile that he mussed when he swung his feet up on Phil’s desk five minutes earlier (the sharp-eyed, “I-know-you-didn’t-just-do-that-because-if-you-did-I’d-have-to-kick your-ass” look he’d gotten for that was hilarious and cowing) when an envelope falls onto the floor. It falls flap-side up, and looks like it must be a card of some sort or an invitation. It’s cream colored, and it looks like it’s probably pretty expensive paper. Judging by the feel of it when he picks it up, he upgrades it from “probably expensive” to “definitely expensive.” He’s not entirely surprised when he turns the envelope over to see gold embossing instead of ink. He is surprised to see the name on the front of the envelope is “Michael Casper.”

He’s even more surprised to see that the return address is for “Josiah and Abigail Bartlet.” He looks up to find Phil looking at him, for once wary of Clint’s reaction.

“Michael Casper one of your aliases then? What were you, secret service? I heard that Bartlet got pretty close with the agents on his detail.”

Clint had never met President Bartlet, but he’d taken the man’s orders. And he respected the man’s ability to make hard decisions.

Phil didn’t respond, seeming to think about what he wanted to tell Clint, what he could tell Clint.

“Michael Casper was an FBI agent. He was tasked with the investigation of the Rosslyn shooting and the Zoe Bartlet kidnapping. SHIELD always has a couple agents in the FBI tasked with maintaining the First family’s safety.”

“Huh. Makes sense. So what’s in the envelope?”

“An invitation for Zoe Bartlet’s wedding to Charlie Young.”

“The kid that they were gunning for at Rosslyn? The President’s body man Charlie Young?”

“Yes.”

“We going?”

“If Colonel Fury approves my request to reactivate the alias, then yes.”

“Awesome.”

\---

Fury does approve Phil’s request for the Michael Casper alias to be reactivated. Mike Casper was well regarded by the staffers in the Bartlet White House and many of them were still active in the Santos administration and other major government agencies. Plus, Fury knew how much getting Zoe Bartlet back alive and relatively unharmed had meant to Phil. It was one of his first big wins. Plus Phil had always liked Charlie Young -- five minutes with the kid and you knew he was going places.

Of course, once Phil tells Clint that he got the okay to go, Clint was bragging all over Avengers Tower that he was going to the “wedding of the year” (wedding of the decade was still going to the Royal Wedding). Of course, Clint didn’t realize that Stark was also invited. And once Stark found out that Clint and Phil were attending, he decided that it had to be a team bonding event.

Stark received an invitation by virtue of the fact that the Maria Stark Foundation endows a substantial number of research grants for curing MS, and at the various dinners and benefits supporting MS research, Tony is often sat with President Bartlet. For all that President Bartlett finds Tony Stark to be a smug, oversexed adolescent in a grown man’s body, he and Stark have a fairly stable relationship that approaches friendship. Stark apparently likes Bartlet because he’s dry and smart. Bartlet likes Stark because he likes smart people who disagree with him. It doesn’t hurt that everyone in the Democratic Party, including Charlie Young, was a pretty big fan of anyone who could so readily demonstrate how much of a jackass Senator Stern is.

Phil learns all of this in a conversation with Pepper Potts. Pepper tells him a few stories about Stark at various fundraisers for presidential candidates over the years. In a somewhat surprising move on Stark’s part, when he was CEO of Stark Industries, he’d decided personally which candidates the company would support. And Bartlet had been Stark’s favorite by far. Stark knew smarmy bastards and had rather early on made up his mind that he didn’t like John Hoynes. So he quietly threw his support behind Bartlet in the 1998 primary. And for all that Bob Ritchie was the SI Board’s choice for president in 2002, Stark thought he was a bumbling idiot who might be good for the company’s bottom line but would be a disaster for the country. Interestingly, Stark had preferred Arnie Vinick to Matt Santos. The 2006 campaign was at the beginning of Stark’s lengthy, depressive-but-productive funk before his abduction by the Ten Rings. Even though Santos knew more about the hardware SI made than Vinick did and was appropriately complimentary, Santos couldn’t quite keep his judgment of Stark’s playboy lifestyle out of their conversation.

Vinick, on the other hand had been Stark’s senator for 15 years, and they’d talked national and world politics, defense contracts, anything and everything at fundraisers for more than a decade. In fact, after Tony’s “I am Iron Man” announcement, one of the only meetings he took was a personal one with Secretary of State Vinick. Now Phil understands better why rumblings about changing the official policy in the Middle East started right after that meeting.

But through all of that, Bartlet was still Tony’s favorite politician. And that wasn’t where the connections between Stark Industries and the Bartlets ended, Phil knew. Since Ms. Potts took over as CEO of Stark Industries, CJ Cregg had accepted her first and only position on a board of directors, becoming the first woman on the SI Board. And in the last year, Ms. Potts and CJ had formed a club that was garnering a fair bit of press coverage. An exclusive sorority for women who had broken the glass ceiling themselves and had now turned around with the intention of shattering it for those who wanted to follow. Zoe Bartlet was the Women for Women Foundation’s Program Director. So Ms. Potts had her own invitation from Zoe herself.

Stark and Ms. Potts could have gone to the wedding together, and in fact they would be sitting together, but Stark had apparently thought that Thor should take part in the festivities, thinking that Thor and President Bartlet would have a hilarious conversation. Ms. Potts decides to take Agent Romanoff because she figures Natasha will make good company. Phil thinks it might also have something to do with an on-again-off-again boyfriend of Natasha’s who’s on Bartlet’s detail for the next few months.

But once Stark finds out that Clint will be attending with Phil, he decides he needs two more invitations, one for Captain Rogers and one for Dr. Banner. Ms. Potts says that even though Stark and the Captain snipe at one another constantly, there’s a part of Stark that won’t let him leave people out when he has the power to include them. And even though Dr. Banner declines any opportunity to attend the wedding (emotions run high at weddings, even for guests, and no one should have to deal with Bruce hulking out at their wedding), Stark apparently made it his mission to include Captain Rogers. So Ms. Potts had called CJ, telling her that Stark would like an extra invite for Captain America. CJ, who had many times heard the President wax poetically about the model of true American patriotism embodied by Captain America and had seen a framed Captain America poster in Charlie’s office at the White House, immediately called Zoe and Abby Bartlet to get one Steve Rogers added to the guest list.

\--

Steve’s sitting on the edge of his bed drawing the view of the Manhattan skyline he has from his window when Tony breezes in, dressed in a tuxedo at 11 am. At first Steve wonders if Tony’s been to bed yet, but he looks too well put together to just be returning from a night out. Steve has no idea what Tony’s about to tell him, but he’s willing to wait for Tony to talk first, so goes back to his drawing. After all, Tony’s not a very patient person.

“Hey, grab your dress uniform, we’re going to the wedding of the year.”

Now Steve’s confused. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t invited to any weddings, and Captain America does not crash weddings.”

Tony doesn’t miss a beat. “Yeah, first off, stop talking about yourself in the third person. Second, rule number ten. Invitations are for pussies. Third, you’re a gift to the groom and the father of the bride, who just happens to be a former president of the United States. Now let’s go.”

Steve stares at Tony. “Did you just quote _Wedding Crashers_ in an attempt to get me to go somewhere with you?”

Now Tony is thrown. “Wait, you’ve seen _Wedding Crashers_? Seriously? Who showed that to you? That’s at least a Level Five welcome-to-the-future movie. You were not ready for that.”

Steve glares at him.

“Barton right? Fucking Barton and his inability to follow a plan.” Now Steve laughs. “What?”

“Nothing, just you being annoyed at someone failing to follow a plan is kind of hilarious. I don’t think you even follow your own plans.”

Tony opens his mouth to defend himself, when he thinks better of it. “Yeah, no, that’s true. Plans are for the faint of heart, those who lack creative genius, who can’t think on their feet. Plans are for lesser mortal men than I.”

“Or they’re for people who know that plans have strategic value for optimizing an individual or group’s effort in accomplishing a goal. You’re an engineer aren’t you? Isn’t optimization supposed to be something you’re good at?”

“Okay, you want a plan, here’s the plan. Get your dress uniform - it’s clean and pressed and in your closet. Get on the helicopter. Go to the wedding. And play like a champion, no excuses.”

“Seriously, Tony, I’m not crashing the wedding! What about security? They won’t know I’m there and that’s not safe for a former President!”

“Yeah, because Captain Fucking America presents a real danger to a former President of the United States.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Call me “Captain Fucking America.” You know I don’t like it.”

“Okay, I won’t. If you get moving. Come on, wheels up in 10 or something.”

“No.”

“Jesus, you were invited okay? Pepper called CJ Cregg, who called Abby Bartlett who put you on the guest list. I’m not kidding. I told you, apparently Bartlet’s a bit of a fanboy.”

Steve looks at Tony skeptically. “If I call Pepper, will she back that up?”

Before Tony can respond, Pepper pokes her head in the doorway. “Boys, we’re waiting on you.”

Steve looks at Tony and then at Pepper and then back at Tony. “You’re serious.”

Pepper’s eyes narrow as she turns to look at Tony. “What did you do?”

“Nothing! I came in here and told him to get his dress uniform because we were leaving for the wedding.”

“Let me guess. This is the first time you mentioned to him that he was invited?” She doesn’t wait for a response. “Jesus, Tony. I ask you to do one thing. Tell Steve that he was invited to the wedding. ‘I’ll take care of the rest,’ I said, ‘just make sure he’s ready to go.’ ”

“I did! Steve’s uniform is cleaned and ready to go! You never give me more warning than this.”

“First of all that’s not true. Half the time you just don’t listen to my first three warnings. Second, the other half the time, if I give you more warning than this, you find a way to be halfway across the world.”

“That’s true, actually.”

No matter how many times he witnesses these sparring matches, he always watches the two of them like they’re playing a game of ping pong, his head twitching back and forth between them as they volley back and forth. He’s not prepared for this one to end quite so soon when Pepper turns to him.

“Steve, you are invited to the wedding, I promise. And you don’t need to worry about a gift, SI and the Maria Stark Foundation have already made gifts to the bride and groom and to their favorite charities. You made a generous donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters in Charlie Young and Zoe Bartlet’s name. So since you are in fact an invited guest and the helicopter needs to leave in five minutes, grab your dress uniform and let’s go.”

With that she turns on an impossibly high heel and calls out for Darcy, who has taken over for Natasha as Pepper’s personal assistant. Her heels click on the hardwood as she walks to the elevator.

Tony doesn’t even have the good grace to look sheepish in the face of Pepper’s ire. He just walks to Steve’s closet and grabs the uniform off the rack. He looks at Steve’s hands, covered in charcoal from drawing all morning.

“Yeah. You can’t touch this until you wash your hands, but grab your box of medals from your dresser.”

Steve just rolls his eyes.

“Let’s go.”

\---

The ceremony was nice, Clint thinks. Catholic, but nice. It’s a pleasant enough day, and the Bartlet farm really is quite beautiful. The bride looks very pretty, and the groom seems thrilled to be marrying her. Clint’s only complaint thus far is the length of the receiving line. Stark and Cap are bickering behind him, with Thor loudly interjecting every other sentence. Pepper and Natasha are ahead of him chatting about Pepper’s upcoming move to New York. Phil -- Mike today -- is quiet as usual, giving Clint ample time to think to himself. He keeps coming back to something that he hadn’t thought about in years. An operation for the CIA in Bermuda. A sanctioned assassination ordered by a man standing 150 feet away from him.

Clint doesn’t, can’t forget the lives that he’s taken in his career, but he does compartmentalize them, doesn’t think about them often, especially when it’s been almost a decade since he pulled the trigger and when the people he killed had so much blood on their hands. That’s how he forgets until now that the order to kill Shareef had to come from Bartlet himself.

He doesn’t bring it up, obviously. Who does that? “Hey, I’m a big fan of yours, Mr. President. Remember that time you ordered me to kill a foreign leader? Those were good times.”

But he does go through the receiving line with Phil, and he shakes Bartlet’s hand while Phil is kissing Zoe Bartlet (now Bartlet-Young) on the cheek, making polite conversation and asking how she’s liking California.

The President, cocks his head to the left, studying Clint’s face. “You look quite familiar, son, but I don’t believe I know your name.”

“Clint Barton, sir. Perhaps you’ve seen me in the news?”

“Oh? Are you in the news much?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What for, pray tell?”

Clint thinks back to the ride here and remembers that Phil said Bartlet was fully read in on the Avengers Initiative. “I’m on the Avengers, sir. Agent Hawkeye.”

Bartlet gets a distant look on his face. Clint thinks it’s tinged with regret and...perhaps a bit of anger? “Yes, the Avengers. Thank you for your service, Agent Barton. Are you enjoying being an Avenger?”

“Yes, sir. It’s a rewarding experience. I like making sure the world is a safer place for everyone in it.”

Bartlet freezes for a moment. Before he can speak, Phil is moving from Zoe to the President, smiling warmly, too warmly for Agent Phil Coulson, but perhaps the right amount of warmth for Agent Mike Casper.

“Mr. President, it’s good to see you.” He extends his hand. Bartlet automatically returns the gesture. And just like that, his silence is broken and Bartlet smiles again.

“Mike Casper! So glad you could make it. Do you know Agent Barton?”

“Yes, Mr. President. Clint’s actually my date this afternoon.” Bartlet smiles wider.

“Is he now! That’s wonderful!” Bartlet’s smile fades as his thoughts apparently return to whatever was occupying them before Phil interrupted. Pepper, who was in front of them, chatting amiably with Abby Bartlet, seems to have finished, meaning that Clint and Phil should move the line along.

After saying a quick hello to Abby and offering his congratulations, Phil pulls Clint out of the crowd.

“What did you say?”

Clint would be offended, except that he does have a tendency to run his mouth inadvisably, though he doesn’t do it as much or as badly as Stark does. Plus, he’s pretty sure that whatever caused President Bartlett to go quiet and distant had something to do with him. But he still gets defensive.

“I didn’t do anything. I offered my congratulations, he asked who I was, I told him I was Clint Barton, and you said he was read in on the Avengers, so I told him that I was Hawkeye.”

Phil’s a good agent. A very good agent. Physically, he’s been trained to take down assailants with whatever weapons are at hand. And he’s very good at that. But a larger part of the job is mental, putting the pieces of a puzzle together quickly, with or without a picture to guide him. And he’s good at that too. Because sometimes he puts two and two together and gets four. But sometimes he puts two and two together and gets five. And sometimes five is exactly the right answer.

“You killed Shareef.”

Clint’s a good agent too. He can lie convincingly and he’s a crack shot with any weapon he’s ever been handed. But he’s floored that Phil knows he killed Shareef. He was reliably informed that the only people who knew who was on that mission were the President, the Joint Chiefs, Nick Fury, and his team mates, and two of them are dead. And Bartlet, the Joint Chiefs and his teammates only knew him by his code name. The Joint Chiefs chose Hawkeye because Hawkeye never misses. And they couldn’t afford to miss on this one.

“How do you know that?”

“I just do. New plan. You and I are avoiding the President because he shouldn’t have to think about that today.”

He turns to look at the President. He’s talking with Tony now, and it looks like Tony’s introducing him to Captain Rogers and Thor. That should cheer him up, Phil thinks.

\---

Tony’s positively gleeful as they make their way through the receiving line.

While Thor seems to chalk it up to being part of this ”Midgardian celebration of unity,” Steve recognizes the manic glint in Tony’s eyes that’s been there since Tony walked into his room and hustled him onto a helicopter two hours ago. He knows Tony said that President Bartlet -- who it seems like Steve will like based on what he’s read so far about the first decade of this century -- is a “fanboy,” but he doesn’t think that really explains the mischievous look that has been on Tony’s face for the past two hours. So when they reach the groom and his sister in the receiving line and Tony gets an excited hello, a vigorous handshake and a “thank you for everything you’ve ever said to Senator Stern,” Steve thinks that maybe Tony was once again trying to show Steve how much cooler Tony was. Then Tony turns and introduces Thor.

“Charlie, I’d like you to meet Thor Odinson.”

“My heartiest congratulations on your nuptials! May your coupling this evening bear fruit!” Thor booms.

Charlie looks like he isn’t sure whether he should be mortified or break into helpless laughter. But with grace that most 30 year old men don’t have, he neither stutters nor laughs.

“Thank you, Mr. Odinson. We’ll take that under advisement. I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening.” Tony’s kissing the bride, Zoe, on the cheek. She can’t have not heard Thor’s proclamation, but Steve guesses that years as the President’s daughter helped her learn to keep her composure. And judging by the flush on her chest and cheeks, she definitely heard.

Steve steps in to try and diffuse the awkwardness. “Congratulations, Mr. Young. You seem to be a very lucky man.”

Charlie smiles softly. “That I am. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He reaches out for Steve’s hand.

Steve catches Charlies hand in his. “Steve Rogers,” he says as he pumps Charlie’s hand up and down. Charlie’s mouth drops open.

“You’re Captain America!” Okay, now Steve thinks he understands Tony’s look earlier. He loves putting Steve in situations where Steve doesn’t know how to handle his fame. Steve smiles at Charlie, who is still grasping his hand tightly.

Charlie quickly gets his awe under control and releases Steve’s hand. “I’m sorry. It’s been years since I did that. I just, you were my hero growing up. I can’t believe you came to my wedding. Zoe, Zoe. Captain America came to our wedding.”

Zoe smiles at Charlie indulgently. “Hello, Captain. You’ll have to excuse my husband.” She pauses as that statement sinks in, smiling even wider than she was before. “He’s rarely awed anymore, but you really are an inspiration to him.” She slides an arm around Charlie’s waist and squeezes. “But the guy you’re really going to have to watch out for is my dad. He’s possibly your biggest fan. If you’re not careful, he’ll corner you and spend the whole evening asking you questions and lecturing you about your cultural and historical importance.”

Charlie nods. “She’s right.” Charlie opens his mouth to continue, but he is interrupted by Thor’s booming voice.

“Anthony Stark has told me that thou art a great leader of thy people. It does me great honor that thou would have me, Thor, son of Odin, here on this day, the day of thy youngest daughter’s wedding. For today is truly a day of celebration!”

President Bartlet actually seems unfazed. “No, it is I who is honored, Thor. My family thanks you for being with us today.”

Tony grabs Steve’s arm before Thor starts talking again, dragging him toward the President. “Mr. President, I brought a surprise for you. Meet Steve Rogers.” Steve belatedly remembers to pull himself up into a salute.

The President’s eyes widen slightly, but he maintains the even keel he’s had all afternoon and he returns Steve’s salute with his own. “At ease, Captain, I’m not your commander in chief.”

“Yessir. Thank you for inviting me, sir.”

“I’d say you’re welcome, but it seems that Mr. Stark and my wife and daughter planned this as a surprise for me today.”

“Tony surprised me with the invitation this morning too.”

“Well, Captain, we’ll have to find each other later to commiserate on our friends and families conspiring against us like this.” He puts his hand on Steve’s arm and draws him closer. “It really is an honor to have you here, Captain. Don’t listen to a word anyone says, I’m an admirer, for certain, but I’m not some crazed fan.”

The President’s wife seems to hear him despite his drop in volume.

“Sure, Jed, because you don’t have framed copies of the Captain America comics and you didn’t have one of the Smithsonian’s vintage USO tour posters hanging in the rec room of the residence.” Steve can feel his face flushing.

“Now, look what you’ve done, Abby, you’ve embarrassed the boy.”

“Oh please. He’s just fair skinned. Abigail Bartlet, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Captain.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, ma’am.”

“And I thought I was done getting ‘ma’am’ed when you left office, Jed.”

Steve can see that Tony is taking immense pleasure in Steve’s discomfort, but apparently Pepper feels sorry for him, as she comes to his rescue.

“Mr. President, Dr. Bartlet, are these gentlemen causing trouble?”

The President laughs. “Ms. Potts, did you just call Tony Stark a gentleman?”

Tony huffs. “I resent that, actually.”

“Well, Tony,” the President says, “the Oxford English Dictionary defines a gentleman to be a chivalrous, courteous, or honorable man, a man of good social position, especially one of wealth and leisure. Are you a gentleman?”

Steve decides he’ll take this opportunity to give a little back to Tony. “Well, the wealth and leisure part certainly fit, but you’re hardly courteous, Tony. Though I’ll give you chivalrous. You do manage to save the damsel in distress ten times out of ten.”

“Captain, I’m wounded. Didn’t I get you an invite to this shindig?”

“An invitation that you didn’t bother to tell me about until five minutes before we left.”

“Tony, is this true?”

Pepper cuts Tony off before he can try to defend himself. “Yes, Mr. President, it’s true.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” Steve would swear he was whining.

“Oh, stop whining, Tony.” Apparently the First Lady thought so too.

“You’re all against me. Next time the evil space aliens attack I’m leaving you to fend for yourselves.” He reaches out to shake the President’s hand once more. “Abby, Jed, my congratulations. I’m gonna take Thor and get the big guy some food.”

Pepper puts her hand in the crook of Steve’s elbow. “The Captain and I should follow them. You never know what kind of trouble Tony and Thor might get into.” She leans in and gives the President’s wife a kiss on the cheek. “Congratulations again. Steve?”

“Congratulations, sir, ma’am...Mrs...Dr. Bartlet.”

The President extends his hand, and Steve takes it.

“Thank you for coming, Captain. I’ll find you later and we’ll chat about your experiences in France.”

“I’ll look forward to it, sir.”

\---

The rest of the afternoon goes quickly for Clint. The food is wonderful, the alcohol flows freely (the Fantastic Four and the X-Men are on call today), and his teammates seem to be behaving themselves for the most part. He thinks it helps that Pepper is keeping Stark occupied and that the President kidnaps Cap for the better part of an hour during the reception. Natasha disappears for a while, but he thinks he remembers a rumour that she was dating a Secret Service agent at some point. She comes back looking pretty pleased, so she either got laid or beat the crap out of someone - he’s betting the former, but who knows with Natasha. Thor just likes the fact that there’s live music, and Clint swears Thor dances with every woman at the wedding.

Phil gets to see Josh Lyman and Donna Moss (“Donna Moss professionally, Donna Lyman personally”), avoids CJ Cregg and Danny Concannon for the sake of maintaining his alias (it’s not that Phli doesn’t trust Pepper to keep up the charade that he’s Mike Casper, but he doesn’t want her to have to keep it up indefinitely), and dances once with the bride.

On the helicopter ride home, everyone but Cap and Thor are pretty buzzed. Pepper and Natasha are giggling together over something or other -- they asked for a private radio channel before they got on board. Tony’s on the main radio channel talking to Cap and Thor, gesturing wildly and asking J.A.R.V.I.S. to pull up clips of President Bartlet. Tony’s favorite seems to be the one where the President called out a radio talk show host for being a religious zealot who didn’t know anything about the Bible. Cap and Thor seem to approve.

Clint and Phil both chuckle when they hear Cap ask why Bartlet isn’t President anymore. After all Roosevelt had four terms. (“Twenty-second amendment, Steve. No more than two terms or ten years in office.” “Oh, well that’s a good thing I guess.”).

Clint just lets the chatter wash over him, head dropping onto Phil’s shoulder. He doesn’t even notice when Phil swaps them over to a private channel and Stark, Cap and Thor’s voices drop away.

“You have a good time?”

Clint smiles and ducks his head into Phil’s neck. “Yeah, thanks for bringing me.”

“Anytime.”


End file.
